When a patient is transported by a helicopter, the patient is generally placed onto a litter. The litter is then loaded onto a helicopter to transport the patient to a health care facility. Once the helicopter lands on a heliport of the healthcare facility, a gurney from the healthcare facility is bought to the helicopter. The litter, with the patient, is then transferred from the helicopter to the gurney by medical personnel.
While the gurney is adjustable in height, present gurneys are too short and do not extend up to the bottom of the door opening in the helicopter. Thus, there is generally a 1-2 feet difference between the height of the helicopter door and the top of the gurney. This height differential may cause injuries to the medical personnel transferring the patient. When unloading the litter, medical personnel may injure their hands when unloading the litter to the gurney as their hands/fingers may get caught under the litter when moving the litter to the gurney. The injuries caused by such a mishap may be as minor as a scratch and or cut to one or more fingers to as serious as a sprain or broken finger(s). Further, the height differential requires medical personnel transferring the patient to lift and lower the gurney to the litter which may cause possible shoulder, back, arm or other injuries.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above. The system and method would provide for an extension or raised platform which is placed on top of the gurney to place the top of the gurney level with the helicopter. The stretcher may then be on the same level as the gurney and slide directly onto the gurney.